ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Gay and Queer Men!
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It’s day four of our LGBTQ+ tribute series and it’s up to Spencer Christie, volunteer and Executive Team member, to take the reins. While gay men are often at the top of the ‘privilege pyramid’ when it comes to queer identities, Spencer will share a selection of his gay role models who make positive contributions to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
Senator Fintan Warfield
Recently re-elected into the Seanad from the Cultural and Educational panel, Fintan was first an openly gay mayor of South County Dublin. His political career has seen him been vocal on his support of many LGBTQ+ issues including the improvement of trans healthcare, access to PrEP and his introduction of a bill banning LGBTQ+ conversion therapy.
Ncuti Gatwa
I don’t say this lightly, but it’s possible that Ncuti has potentially grown an even nicer moustache than my own. On top of that, he’s also stolen our hearts as one of the lead characters in Netflix’s Sex Education which took the streaming service by storm when it was released initially last year. He has been lauded for his strong portrayal of his character, Eric Effiong, an out, black, gay school kid who hasn’t been relegated to the tokenistic sidelines. A Rwandan-Scot, Ncuti is known for his fashion sense both on and off set. In a Britain that is growing increasingly intolerant of perceived outsiders, Ncuti does an excellent job of boosting black, gay representation in the public domain.
Gareth Thomas
Finding himself in the middle of unjust controversy last year, Gareth Thomas was the first openly gay professional rugby union player when he came out in 2009. Known only to me as ‘that gay rugby player in the Guinness ads’ before being outed as HIV+ by a tabloid newspaper journalist to his parents last September, Gareth has proven to be an inspiration in his handling of the media drama as well as his ownership of his status. Using his platform to his advantage, Gareth has taken the opportunity on numerous occasions to promote the scientific fact that having an undetectable HIV viral load means there is zero change of it being passed on (U=U).
George Takei
Known for his illustrious Star Trek career and many, many cameos, George revealed he was gay in 2005 when Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-governor of California, vetoed same-sex marriage legislation. As well as being a staunch advocate for Asian-American rights, George has been quick to call out the many hypocrisies of a certain North American president as well as other inequalities he sees arising in today’s political climate. Although having spent the majority of his adult life in the closet protecting his career, George set out on many rallies across the United States in pursuit of equal marriage until 2015.
Gay men. There are simply too many of us. Who isn’t a gay man these days? Honourable mentions go to Rory O’Neill, Will St Leger, Joel Kim Booster, Robbie Lawlor and Wilson Cruz.
